


Back In My Arms

by Tangled23



Series: Until I See You Again [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:22:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22524739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangled23/pseuds/Tangled23
Summary: Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak have spent twenty years waiting for the moment when they will be reunited. Now, a portal has been opened and they're about to find each other again. If they can overcome the one thing that's threatening to keep them apart.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Series: Until I See You Again [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1101597
Comments: 11
Kudos: 30





	Back In My Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, famdom! I watched the finale and I have a lot to process. I'm hoping that this will be therapeutic in a way. However, I have to be honest with you. I have no idea what this is or where it will take me. I'm not even sure I can write a story with paranormal elements. But I'm writing it for me because I need it. So, if you're feeling adventurous, give it a shot. If not, I'll see you on the next one. No hard feelings, either way.

Alone. Never before had he felt so alone. 

No matter where he was, no matter _when_ he was, she had always been with him. Not this time. That was the price he had to pay. He had promised to stay away from her even though it felt like someone was peeling the flesh from his bones. But the entity called the Monitor had demanded this and he would keep his word if only to protect her. 

No, not the grown woman who loved him. Not his wife. The other one, the little girl whose name he could not remember but whose existence he could feel deep in his soul. She was a golden thread tying him to the past (or present? traveling through multiple universes could get very confusing real fast) and he adored her. Usually, he could see her really close to a blue thread. This one belonged to a boy who was his as well. The two of them crossed paths but were apart at the same time. It seemed strange until he realized he recognized the bond for what it was. They were siblings.

There was another thread that he knew well. This one was dark red and tied him to a younger woman with more sass and personality than he could handle. She was not born of him like the other two but she was part of him nonetheless. He hoped she was well, he hoped she was thriving wherever she was. He loved her even though she had chosen to leave him and go far away out of his reach.

The final thread he recognized with a primitive part of his brain; the one that used to tell him to run or fight. The one that had saved his life too many times to count. That thread was indicative of a bond more strong and powerful than he could have ever imagined. It was not gold or yellow or any other color he could describe. It was made of two different strings intertwined. One belonged to her. It was so bright, so full of light that it caused his heart the sweetest of aches. The other belonged to him. It was dark but not black like he had thought at first. No, this thread was a deep, forest green full of secrets and shadows. The two of them had become one over the years. This is how he knew he could stand the loneliness. Because of her. Because she had promised to find him again. And he would never doubt her promises.

That was how he did it. That was how he survived for 20 years, floating around in space, fighting in places he couldn’t have imagined. Now it was time to come back. He knew because he could feel a string deep in his gut pulling him in her direction. There was just one problem. Traveling through the multiverse meant that he had to lose one little piece of his memory every day. Little by little, he had to sacrifice the moments that had made him who he was. Until he couldn’t recognize himself in the mirror. Until he was just an entity fighting for justice. An important part of the new world he had created but not a person. Not like he used to be. 

So even if he met the vibrant thread again how would he know who she was?

The man with the bow didn’t even know his own name.

* * *

Felicity walked through the portal to find herself in the middle of an endless black starry sky. One would think she would be scared, because she had always been a practical person who trusted what she could see and touch. But she was not afraid of this darkness because she knew with a previously dormant part of her soul that it would never hurt her. Instead, she was happy because here each step brought her closer to him.

“I thought you were taking me to my husband?” 

If the Monitor tried to renege on their deal, she would have to kick his ass. What did you threaten with an ageless, godlike entity?

“I am,” he replied calmly. “However, before I take you to him you need to understand.”

“Then show me.”

With a flick of his hand they moved to a different location. Felicity didn’t know how she knew that this was another region of the starry sky but she did. This endless night was somehow more familiar.

The Monitor pointed towards a specific part. “Do you see it?”

“What am I looking for?” she wondered when suddenly she noticed something weird. There was a whole part of the sky that seemed to be alive. There was a star, magnificent, powerful and so bright that it hurt her eyes. And this star was connected thanks to strong threads to other stars.

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured. She couldn’t help but stand on her toes and extend an arm up trying to touch one of the threads. All of them were fascinating but Felicity felt her eyes being drawn only to one. “What is it?”

“It is Oliver and you.”

She turned towards the Monitor. “How is this possible?”

“Your connection is a vibrant thread born of your souls. It is very powerful that connection. Try to cut it and you will find yourself thrown into the abyss.”

Felicity remembered the months she had spent without Oliver when she had discovered his secret son and had done her best to cut the ties that bound them together. She hadn’t gone far. Shocked and afraid, she had decided to ignore their bond and pretend it didn’t exist since she couldn’t cut it all the way. To this day, she was convinced that this had been her biggest sin. The one she would be eternally sorry for.

“We are in a part of the universe that belongs to souls. No one can come here. No one can see this.”

Felicity felt violent pleasure at this piece of information. She wouldn’t be able to handle it if someone came here and messed with the threads.

“People can feel their bonds; parents and children, lovers, friends. The connections are always there even if you cannot see them. Some of them fade, some of them are meant to last forever.”

An ugly thought went through her head. “Just say it. What’s wrong?”

“How do you know something is wrong?”

Felicity sighed. “You brought me here. Why would you show me this if not to warn me?”

The Monitor didn’t answer for a long time. Then he pointed up, to a point in the sky that she could not see clearly.

“You are right, Felicity Smoak. Look closely.”

Felicity squinted and stood on her toes. It took her awhile to find it but when she did, she gasped out loud. “What is this? The thread is disintegrating? How is that possible?”

“There is a…” He hesitated before finding the right word. “A rot. A few years ago, Oliver Queen sustained a wound to the soul. Now it has expanded and is eating away at every piece of him there is left.”

“Don’t you dare say that,” she threatened while tears filled her eyes. “I waited twenty years to be with him. I raised our children alone, I protected them, I did everything I could to get here and now you’re telling me there’s a chance my Oliver won’t be waiting for me? That he will be less somehow? I don’t accept that.”

The Monitor seemed to handle her outburst well. She, on the other hand, wanted to push him. Shove him down a hole or something. Hurt him.

“I accepted you taking him from me because ultimately that was his choice,” she said once she had calmed down a little. “But I won’t allow this sickness to get him from me. Not after all this time. Do something. Fix him! Fix us!”

“I cannot, Felicity Smoak. But you can.”

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who made it till the end, thank you for reading!


End file.
